(Bloomberg) — Agrivert Ltd., a U.K.-based provider of
waste-recycling facilities, secured 96 million pounds ($150
million) in refinancing to help complete two power plants that
will turn waste into electricity.
Of that amount, the company raised 63 million pounds of
debt from GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd., it said Friday in
an e-mailed statement. The 17-year, fixed-rate loan replaces
more costly short-term debt. Existing shareholders have re-invested the remainder as part of the deal, allowing Alcuin
Capital Partners LLP, Agrivert’s private equity backer, to exit
fully.
“This financing has simplified and reduced the cost of our
borrowing as well as provided the funding to support a
significant growth of our business,” said Alexander Madden,
chief executive officer of Agrivert.
Agrivert will use the money to complete two 3-megawatt
anaerobic digestion plants that break down organic material, in
this case food waste, in the absence of oxygen to produce a
biogas that can generate power. The facilities in Hertfordshire
and south Wales are expected to start working in the middle of
next year.
U.K. businesses are increasingly funneling food to
anaerobic digestion plants to avoid rising taxes for burying
waste underground.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
Randall Hackley